Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Anglo Celtic Plate 2012, Scottish and UK 100k Champs

I passed the first Marathon Marker in 2:58 and was at half way in 3:32. Another 50k to go. So what was I doing? What was I thinking?

- Did I
honestly think I could run a 7:04 100k? No! I never did!

- Did I run
to become Scottish Champion? No.

- Did I run
to win? No.

- Did I run
to beat anyone in particular? No.

It is not in my power to manipulate what any other runner could achieve in a race like this. Winning or beating someone else was a secondary target. Nevertheless
I wanted to run the 100k as fast as possible. And there
is only one way of doing that: I had to run "my own race". There is no better race strategy than that. If you want I had a "plan A". I had hoped to run a sub 7:20.

And when I reached the half way point I
still found this was well achievable.

Today it
was the heat on that day which made for good excuses to go off a bit quicker in
the earlier hours of the day. And then
later slow down. That was inevitable. Almost deliberate. I think on a hot day
like this there was no other race strategy.
Why holding back over the cooler part of the day and then 'speed up' in boiling
heat?

So a
positive split it was for today. No shame about that. A 100k is a strange beast
anyway. There is nothing like it. In
particular if you are wearing a Scottish Vest and it is the UK Championships.
Because you have to go fast. And it is going to
hurt. There is no room for error and no rest. Until you have finished the race.
62 miles. Your competitor may have a Marathon PB which is two minutes faster or slower. In a 100k he may finish an hour ahead of you. Or behind.

When I saw
my first split on my Garmin for the first Kilometre I knew I had the legs for a
fast race today. My training had worked out for me. Adrian
Stott was getting a bit worried about my fast splits but I never pushed for a
second in the first 30 miles. The second
half would be tough and slower. If you ask me now, after the race, if I had
gone off too fast my answer is no. I would do
very little adjustments. Maybe a tiny bit less effort... Maybe not...

I was not
the only one slowing down in the second half today. After 60k I caught up with
Allen Smalls. He obviously had some
problems with maintaining the pace. That gave me some comfort and ensurance
that it was not a silly racestrategy
which was making it difficult for me. Allen was a very consistent competitor.
Someone actually capable of running 7 hours
over 100k. If he blew up, there was no shame if I did.

It was hot! Thanks Ian J Berry for the photo!

But it was
not so much the pacing today which spoiled our race plans. It was the heat. And
we all were suffering. The lovely contryside roads we were running offered
little shade. A few trees occasionally but that was it. Thetemparature
was climbing and climbing. The tarmac
was heating up. And there was one stretch of just about half a mile long with
no shade and the wind in our back just before
the sharp bend back to the village which was like an oven. And it was getting
worse and worse every lap. After the
race Silke told me that she offered me a hat many times and I always said no.
But I cannot remember any of that.

Because
when I was running through that oven I always thought, why am I not wearing
one? My brain was boiling. And my quads. Boy, they
were boiling. And my stomach was boiling. I had no solid food the entire race.
That did not help.

I had a
joker though. Caffeine. I am a coffee drinker. And I drink loads of it. Triple
esspressos. That kind of stuff. And I use
caffeine in later stages of races and it always gives me a boost. And I had my
first coffeine gel at 60k. And I was looking forward to it. It was going to give me
wings!

So here I was running next to Allen Smalls. I think it was one lap and
we ran close together and even next to each other. More or less silently. I wanted to say something to
him. A joke perhaps. I think I tried to say "not the day for a negative
split" but it was more like a cough what came out of my throat.

And I was
waiting for the magic of the caffeine gel to ease off the pain and brighten
things up but that gel did notwork. My
stomach turned against me. My head decided to go into low point mode. And my
bowels exploded. Thankfully I was just at the aid station and the public toiletwas
available. So I made use of that. I had another caffeine gel an hour later or
so but my stomach was not liking it so I said (or shouted) to Silke "no
more caffeine".

It
is not your legs who can win a 100k. It is your guts and stomach! If
they stop working or go on strike your legs will stop working too.

I had no
idea how Marco, Matt or Gareth were doing. I actually thought that at some
point in the race I would be passed by Matt. And I was
surprised that Marco had not passed me already. I have been training with Marco for years now and lately with Matt and to be honest I had to TAPER to survive those training runs with those guys!

My advantage today was I had done a 100k before and kind of knew what to expect. In order to find out how my team mates were doing I either had to lap them. Or they would pass me eventually...

I never looked back though. Not
a single time in the entire race. And when I heard runners coming from behind
it was not Matt or Marco or Gareth. They were Marcus Scotney and Craig Holgate.
Looking strong. Going this fast they would catch Allen I thought. Or even
Keith Whyte who was still in the lead by quite a margin. To be honest it was a
little depressing to be passed in the
second half of that race. I felt defeated. Was my race strategy completely
wrong? Had I made a fool out of myself by going
off too fast?

And I was slowing. And slowing even more. Despite increasing my
efforts. My quads were in a poor state.

My feet
burning and aching. I had decided to run the 100k in my Addizero Mana 6. They
served me well in the Edinburgh Marathon but they
seem to lose their bounce and cushioning with every lap. And with every lap it
felt more and more I was running barefoot.

And I have
to admit I had always claimed I would cope well in 'hot' conditions. But here I
was baking and roasting myself from the inside and outside.And how
many times did I look up to the sky and wished for some rain. But there were no
clouds. I even felt sorry for the Marshalls who had not found
any shadow and sitting there in the heat for hours...

The pacing
chart shows it all:

1) The zig
zag pattern shows how the wind influenced the speed. The way out of the village
a mile long with a slight push by the wind. 10 seconds per mile faster than the
way back towards village inte the brisk headwind. The wind was slowing us
runners but also cooling. I guess most of the runners found the headwind rather
pleasant.

2) The
stomach and bowel explosion after mile 60 when I took my caffeine gel. Leading
to a toilet stop

3) and the
steep decline in speed. I was in a deep and dark place for a while. Breaking
down. Until I yelled "soup". And I drank that warm salty fatty substance
hoping it would keep me alive. And it did. Was it the fat or the salt? I will
never know.

4) Feeling
a bit stronger and actually getting a bit quicker over the last 20k.

So back to
the race...

I did pass
Matt, Marco and Gareth eventually. Gareth was struggling badly and Matt was just pulling away from him. Matt was suffering too but he did not show it.
He smiles and commands "go and get that Scottish
Championship title!"

A while later
I saw Marco. I don't know what lap. He was leaning against one of those stone
walls and stretching his calf muscles. I caught up with him we but didn't talk
much. I said something about the heat, he about cramping and no way to keep 8
minute mile pace going... I stumble forward and eventually pass him. There was
nothing I could do about it. The good news were that Marco would survive this event in an excellent 7:51. A PB is a PB but I guess his next 100k will be much faster. The same applies for Matt who finished in 7th overall in 7:55.

Over the last laps Adrian and
the team passed on information to me but I don't think I could make much sense
out of it. I understood I was not far from Allen and Craig. A few minutes
perhaps. Over the last 20k I felt a bit stronger again and tried everything in
my power to keep the pace up and close the gap. I digged deep. Plagued by tunnel vision and "never, ever again's" but I guess Allen and Craig digged just as deep to defend their position. I finish in 4th and I am toast. Litterally. Not far behind Allen and Craig actually. Keith Whyte killed that race as much as Emily Gelder
killed the ladies' race. Izzy Knox won the Scottish 100k title.

1st Keith
Whyte 7.16

2nd Allan
Smalls 7.25.02

3rd Craig
Holgate 7.26.03

4th Thomas
Loehndorf 7.28.32

5th Marcus
Scotney 7.40

6th Marco
Consani 7.51.28

7th Matt
Williamson 7.55.54

Quality results for a 100k race in that heat.

Gareth struggled with hamstring issues but finished the race despite the problems.

A big thank
you to Adrian Stott and his team for supporting us runners. And a big
compliment to Welsh Athletics who organised the event in the lovely small
village of Redwick. And thanks to the friendly Marshalls and volunteers. In
particular the ones who had no shade to hide from the relentless roasting
sunlight.

Of course a
big thanks to Silke for her flawless support and Debs for booking and driving
and cheering and taking pictures and everything.

Stuart, to be honest I owe you some credits for my race (which I consider a great success).I gave the pre-race mental approach a lot of attention. I certainly did not run as fast as I could though. But I had confidence in going "fast" (ish). There are few theoretical approaches which would support that "fast" start. Apart from your very own approach.And to be honest in cooler conditions I would have considered a 7:04 (or at least a result close to that) achievable.But despite all willpover and mental preparation there are physical limitations. I was cooking from the inside and outside and that was just too much. I was very close to collapsing over the last 15 miles or so.

Fantastic achievement Thomas. You did so well. I have been very fortunate to witness some of your best races but this one tops them all. It was a pleasure training with you and watching you compete with the big guns. I can only guess at how far you can take this and where you will be in a years time. Just wait up for me now and then. ;-)

Take care my friend. Looking forward to more training runs together soon.